


all the stars

by stormsirxn



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:53:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26169742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormsirxn/pseuds/stormsirxn
Summary: a black girl's thoughts on black panther and the impact chadwick boseman had on her & the world.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 77





	all the stars

**Author's Note:**

> rest in power king.

on february 18th, 2018, i walked into my local theater to watch black panther for the first time.

a week later i went back to watch it a second time. 

to some people it was just a movie but for me it was so much more than that. 

for the first time in my life, i took part in a film that was not by tyler perry that had a majority cast that looked like me. 

where the people that looked like me didn't have their hair straightened to look "more professional." 

where the continent i came from wasn't portrayed as a poverty filled safari-land. 

black panther took pride in being a truly black film, and it portrayed that black is beautiful.

that black is powerful. 

something that i had yet to understand coming from an area without a lot of black people. 

i watched that film, saw the actors on screen, and it transformed me. 

i started taking pride in my heritage, in my people. 

i got my first set of box braids that november. 

in march of 2019, i said to hell with straight hair even though the asian side of my family said it made me "look prettier".

i cut off six years' worth of relaxed hair in the mirror and ran my fingers through short curls i hadn't seen since i was 10. 

and for the first time i didn't have the automatic urge to straighten it. 

in may of 2020, i blasted the black panther album through the stereo of my car on the way to a george floyd protest. 

i screamed black lives matter in the street and dared anyone to challenge me. 

black panther made that all possible. 

chadwick boseman made all that possible. 

i walked in that movie an insecure, frightened little blasian girl and i walked out a lioness.

even if i didn't know it yet. 

i'm sharing this as a thank you to chadwick. 

and as a goodbye to him as well. 

he was amazing in all of his roles, a truly epic actor, and i've greatly enjoyed a good deal of his filmography. 

but i met him as king t'challa. 

"in my culture, death is not the end. it’s more of a stepping-off point. you reach out with both hands, and bast and sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where you can run forever."

thank you for being on this ride with us chadwick. i'm sad you reached your stepping off point, but you managed to make it one hell of a journey. 

tell our ancestors hello for me. 

make sure to include all you did for our people. 

tell them about the revolution you started. 

we'll make sure it never dies. 


End file.
